E-NEWS 15TH AUGUST 2025
Talofa lava. What a beautiful day this Friday morning is. I hope you’ve all had a good week and are keeping warm, steering clear of the winter colds, flus, and sniffles. Some of us have been a bit under the weather but are now on the mend.
This Sunday, we have a special Queen Margaret Founders Day Service at 4:00pm in the Queen Margaret College Assembly Hall. Normally, this service would be held at St Andrew’s on The Terrace, but the booking for the church came in a bit late, and we already had an existing booking made two years ago. It’s probably just as well, as Queen Margaret College has its Open Day in the morning, so the service can follow on without people having to travel between venues. It’s my turn to preach this year and I’m going to be sharing some of my Sabbatical memoirs around the text from Jeremiah “For I alone know the plans I have for you”. The Theme is “Wahine Journeys” Building strong and confident women”. If you are free come along and join us.
Our lectionary reading for Sunday morning’s service is a challenging one — a passage from Luke 12 where Jesus says, “I have come to bring division, not peace,” followed by words about families being divided. It’s still a work in progress for me, but I look forward to exploring together what this text meant in its original time, and how it can sometimes be misunderstood or misinterpreted in our time today. It will be an interesting and perhaps surprising conversation of faith.
Also this Sunday: Y Group will meet in one of the conference rooms. I’ll be bringing some lunch for us to share, so if you’re free — and consider yourself young at heart — please join us after coffee. Congregational Conversations, led by Sue, will also be held after coffee.
This coming Monday is the Memorial Service for Andrew Matthews at 10am here at St. Andrew’s on the Terrace. If you are able to provide a sweet dish for the after function in the Hall that would be great. If you are available be nice to support Wendy and the family.
Flight Hack for Air New Zealand Travel Here’s a handy tip for booking flights within New Zealand (and possibly internationally, though I haven’t tested that yet). If I want to fly to Auckland — say in October or November — I book early. The cheapest one-way fares are often around $79 if you get in ahead of time. The times might be inconvenient (like a 6 a.m. departure), but I just take it and book. Here’s the trick: Add the Flexi Refund option. That will push the cost to about $140 for that one flight (e.g., Wellington to Auckland). With Flexi Refund, you can cancel the flight and get your money back — but only on the day of travel. Why this works. If you skip the Flexi Refund and later decide you don’t want the $79 flight, the next available flight (say at 10 a.m.) might cost around $180 one-way. That’s more than if you’d booked the cheapest early flight and added Flexi Refund from the start. In short — book the cheapest fare you can find, add Flexi Refund, and you’ll have the flexibility to change or cancel without paying the higher last-minute prices.
Well, I hope you have a great weekend and that the weather is sunny while you keep warm. I look forward to seeing some of you on Sunday, and also to meeting with the Y Group for lunch after coffee. Ka kite ano. Fei.
You can read the full E-news here: https://mailchi.mp/626c41eabf75/this-weeks-newsletter-from-st-andrews-on-the-terrace-10136010
